Indians lose to Knights, Hounds

The season for the Sleepy Eye Indians boys basketball team has left some things to be desired, namely in the way of wins, yet the team has shown spectators on a number of occasions that they have the skills to hang with, and even beat teams that are favored in the matchups. One such occasion was last Friday night against the St. Mary’s Knights.

The season for the Sleepy Eye Indians boys basketball team has left some things to be desired, namely in the way of wins, yet the team has shown spectators on a number of occasions that they have the skills to hang with, and even beat teams that are favored in the matchups. One such occasion was last Friday night against the St. Mary’s Knights.

St. Mary’s came to Sleepy Eye’s home court, and the Indians held their own, and at times downright outplayed the Knights. It was clear that the offensive attack of St. Mary’s offense was halted by the slower pace the Indians held them to. It wasn’t until the final four minutes and change that the Knight’s offense even lit up, and by lit up I?refer to Jon Milliard who finished the night with 31 points.

Throughout the entire game the two teams traded buckets. The game never got away from either team, yet that also meant that neither team was able to gain a sizeable lead. At halftime the score was knotted up at 27 each.
The second half began much like the first half with each side trading baskets for the first seven minutes of the second half. It was then that the Indian’s, Tyler Hadley went down, reinjuring a shoulder injury that has plagued him since the end of the football season. At this point in the game, Sleepy Eye held to a modest three point, 44-41, lead.

Sleepy managed to cling to their lead, until St. Mary’s Jon Milliard stepped up and downed a trio of three-pointers to put the Knights on top, thus gaining the momentum with just five minutes to play.

The Knights went on a 7-1 scoring run in a matter of a couple minutes, and the largest lead of the game on either side was seen by the Knights as they now led by 10, with the score 63-53, with just three to go.
The Knights went on to score nine more while holding the Indians to just four.

When the final buzzer sounded the Knights had topped the Indians 72-57, in a game that was far closer than the score indicates.
“The guys were confident and I thought both teams competed hard to the end.” Head coach Brian Polesky commented.

“Jon Milliard had an outstanding game for St. Mary’s,” He complimented.

“We wanted to control the pace of the game. They are very talented offensively, so I?thought for the most part our defense was pretty solid. It’s unfortunate that Tyler went down with a shoulder injury, but we don’t have any excuses or what if’s. The guys competed as hard as they could, and we have to credit St. Mary’s for making enough plays to come through.” Polesky concluded his comments on Friday’s game.

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The next action the Indians saw was Tuesday night at home against the Greyhounds of New Ulm Cathedral. The Greyhounds come to Sleepy Eye with an overall record of 16-6 and 10-5 in the conference.

The game looked promising at the outset. Again, Sleepy Eye held their own against a heavily favored team taking a 25-19 lead into the locker room.

The second half left much to be desired. And that “much” is essentially everything. As the Hounds offense went on a scoring run, the defense held the Indians scoreless in the second half right up until the closing minutes of the game.

Scoring totals in the final half were a heavily lopsided, 34-8 resulting in a 53-33 loss for the home team.